5 Pounds

Nigeria's first banknote series was issued in 1958, three years before independence, by the newly formed Central Bank established under the Central Bank of Nigeria Act of that year. The Colonial Office had resisted setting up a full central bank for years, preferring the West African Currency Board arrangement that had tied the region's currency to sterling since 1912. When the WACB notes were finally withdrawn, the changeover was rapid and the new series had to be ready.

Waterlow & Sons printed the issue shortly before the firm was absorbed by De La Rue in 1961, making this one of the final major African commissions under the Waterlow name.